CONFESSIONS OF A FANFIC WRITER by Seth Campbell

I stumbled onto this website through tv.com. I was a fan of Robotboy. And while it was not the first time I was a fan, it was the first time I was part of a fan community; a small corner of cyberspace called home my people who decided to come together and share their stories of the characters that they loved.

My first fan-fic, The Curse of the WereTommy, was the first time I seriously wrote a complete story. I was only a sophomore in High School. Based off a suggestion on a tv.com forum thread, I wrote the first chapter and then created an account. I was then informed that I had to wait a day before I could upload, so I wrote chapter two and uploaded them both. My OC, Mr. Garrett, would go on to become the main character of my first Novel: How it all Began (still in-progress). I then moved on to Sonic the Hedgehog. I saw someone explaining that the Sonic Manga was about a kid who turned into Sonic... and the rest is history.

Sonic the Movie marked the first time I used an outline. Each chapter was summarized in one paragraph each. My characters acted differently than they did in the games, but I made them my own. Halfway through (one week before my junior year of High School), I got on a major kick and finished it all in a week.

Sonic Seems to Like Diet Coke was just me goofing off and parodying the Diet Coke ad on the original Batman VHS. It was in a sense a preview of more silly to come.

Sonic the Sequel was all written in only one week. And it sometimes shows. I sort of shot myself in the foot by having the trailer be all jokes. And the completed work was pretty much the same. Don’t get me wrong. I wouldn’t write anything this funny for another two years. But it wasn’t as serious as I wanted it to be.

Sonic 3: The Other was my answer to the lack of serious drama in the previous story. It was the first time I ever wrote anything “dark”, and I always was taking breaks to hug my old Teddy Bear. I enjoyed writing this one the most because it was based on one specific game: Sonic Adventure 2. Before I wrote this, I watched a playthrough of the game and its adaptation on Sonic X.

I felt content with ending the series there. I was entering my junior year. I had made my first real world friend in years. And I was starting to write Original Stories. Three months later, I got back on the horse. (Sort of)

Sonic 4: Only One was doomed from the start. My outline was watered down from a whole paragraph to just a line of text per chapter. I never uploaded regularly, and I just stopped. I’m sorry I did that. At that time I was battling with depression. I’m better now and am now battling with anxiety.

In short, this was a wonderful experience. Here, I developed my craft and voice as a writer; a caffeine-hyped crazy voice. I will always remember my time here, and will always hold respect for the craft. I hope you all will join me at my new site.

Will I never write fan-fiction again? I don’t know. I might, one day, write one for old time’s sake. I don’t know. An old Echidna proverb says that even if the future is set in stone, the tools used are unknown.* My Name Is Eunacis. My Name Is Seth Campbell.

*Although the Old Klingon proverb still kicks five different kinds of butt.

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